


To Be a Gentleman

by mddnapstablook



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Gen, M/M, but you can absolutely read it as shuichi having a crush on gonta bc that's kinda my intention, just two bros drinking tea, of the platonic variety i guess, this is just... fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 12:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17622404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mddnapstablook/pseuds/mddnapstablook
Summary: Shuichi helps Gonta enjoy one of his favorite drinks.





	To Be a Gentleman

**Author's Note:**

> ksdhfgalsjdkghf au where the killing game hasn't started yet and hopefully never will but they are indeed imprisoned in the school. also while i was writing this i totally forgot that the dining room is inaccessible during the night but who cares i guess. basically i just read all of gonta's fte and i needed to write more to express how much i love this boy. also i dont know how to write something that isn't from shuichi's pov ajsfgkahgsf i hope you enjoy!!

With a jolt, Shuichi wakes up.

Sweat drips down the back of his neck as his chest heaves and he shakes, the last tendrils of his nightmare clinging to him stubbornly as he adjusts to consciousness. He’s fine, everyone is probably fine. The killing game hasn’t started yet, and it isn’t going to. Shuichi sits up and hugs his knees, waiting for his heartbeat to return to normal. It takes a few minutes of steady breathing before the pumping in his chest is regular again, and he does his best to shake off the nightmare. 

Unfortunately, now he’s fully awake, and sleep won’t be coming anytime soon. Shuichi sighs as he looks around his dimly lit room. The creepy stuffed bears he’s found around the school are slowly dancing away on the shelf beside his bed, ignorant of the dilemma Shuichi’s found himself in. He flicks one, and watches as it lolls around from the touch before going back to it’s little dance. 

How long will they be stuck in this school? Is anyone coming to save them? Does anyone care? These are the thoughts that fuel Shuichi’s anxiety, attacking him when he’s alone. But it’s too late in the evening for anyone else to be up and about, he imagines. As much as he’d like company right now, he wouldn’t want to wake up anyone for it. Although, as he casts one last glance at the dancing bears, he thinks maybe a change of scenery wouldn’t be so bad. 

Shuichi shuffles out of bed and into a clean uniform before stepping out into the hall. His hand flits across the monopad in his pocket, tempted to make sure everyone is really in bed, but he decides against it. Absently, he wonders if Kirumi is really resting, or if she’s up and about somewhere tidying. But, then it occurs to Shuichi that if Kirumi really is asleep, he can actually prepare his own cup of tea!

It’s a silly little thing, but it stirs him on towards the kitchen. As much as he adores Kirumi like everyone else, it feels a little infantilizing to be waited on hand and foot by the ultimate maid. Yes, everything she does is perfect and beyond what Shuichi can do with hot water and leaves, but it’s the principle of the thing. He hasn’t been allowed to even step foot in the kitchen since Kirumi had taken it upon herself to serve everyone, and he was maybe just the slightest bit excited to do something for himself again. 

Of course, Shuichi wasn’t expecting to come across Gonta in the dining room. 

When Shuichi enters, it seems that Gonta is too preoccupied by staring into his own cup of tea to notice. Shuichi steps closer, trying to put a little more force into his steps so he doesn’t accidentally startle the gentle giant. It works, and Gonta looks up with surprise written across his face, closely followed by a smile. “Hello, Shuichi! Gonta is drinking tea!”

It certainly looks that way from a distance, but the cup in front of Gonta is completely full, and no steam is coming off of it. Shuichi has to wonder how long it’s been sitting for, or even how Gonta knew how to make a cup of tea for himself in the first place. Perhaps that’s a bit… rude. It’s just that Gonta is one of the students most at ease with letting Kirumi do the bulk of the work when it comes to preparing food and drinks. Not that Shuichi blames him, _of course_ , but the fact remains. 

“Ah, good morning.” Shuichi says, only pausing for a second afterwards to consider if it actually is morning or not. “What are you doing awake?”

Gonta’s smile dims just the slightest, and he turns back to his tea. “Gonta have trouble sleeping. Kirumi make him cup of Oolong Tea before she go to bed. Say it should help.” Gonta picks up the dainty cup in both hands, cradling it like one of his prized insects as he brings it to his lips and takes a sip. Then, he grimaces. “Gonta not like it very much, though.”

Shuichi takes a seat next to Gonta and holds his hands out for the cup. “Do you mind if I try it? Oolong is one of my favorite teas, actually.”

Gonta’s quick to nod and hand over the cup, and Shuichi immediately notices that the cup isn’t hot in the slightest. Taking a small sip, Shuichi notes that he was correct. The cup has long since gone cold, and while it’s otherwise a perfect cup of tea, he can’t imagine anyone drinking it now. “It’s gone cold.” he says, stating the obvious. 

Gonta nods again. “Yes. Was too hot when Gonta first try, so Gonta wait.”

Shuichi taps his fingers along the table in thought for just a second. Then, he rises from his seat. “I was going to make myself a cup of tea. If you’d like, I can make one for you, too?” he offers. He may not be the ultimate maid, but he’s sure he can make a decent cup of tea. 

Gonta smiles brightly and begins to agree, but then he frowns and shakes his head. “No, no. It okay. Gonta not really thirsty anymore.”

Shuichi insists. “Kirumi was probably right about it helping you get to sleep. It’s no trouble at all, I promise.”

Gonta’s face reads conflicted as he glances between Shuichi and the cold cup of tea. “Gonta… Gonta not like the taste.”

He’d said it before, but Shuichi had assumed it was the result of the temperature. It had tasted just the same otherwise. Then again, there was the possibility that Gonta simply didn’t _like_ tea, but then, why would he drink it?

“Then why did you have Kirumi make you tea?” he decides to ask. 

“Oh! Because Kaede say that gentleman drink tea!”

Shuichi doesn’t know how to reply at first. It is exactly the kind of just off the wall while retaining sense sort of statement that Shuichi could hear Kaede saying, and yet he doesn’t quite understand it. Drinking tea makes someone a gentleman? He’d definitely be asking Kaede about that _later_ , but for the moment, he presses Gonta to explain. 

“Gonta and Kaede talk about what it means to be gentleman. She suggest that gentleman drink tea. Then when Gonta wake up, Kirumi say tea help Gonta sleep. Gonta never have tea before, so he think it opportunity to try! Gonta take step to be a gentleman.” Gonta gestures at the cup with a frown. “But Gonta no like the taste. Gonta try! Gonta tell Kirumi it too hot so he not hurt her feelings. But that just make Gonta a liar.” When tears begin welling up in Gonta’s eyes, Shuichi isn’t proud to admit that he briefly panics. 

“I-it’s okay Gonta. There are different kinds of tea, you know? Perhaps you just need to find the one you like. Or… or we just need to make this one more palatable for you.” Shuichi says. 

“Palatable? What that mean?” Gonta asks sincerely. The tears are gone now though, before they’d even had a chance to spill over, so Shuichi counts that as a win. 

“It means make it taste better. Basically. Yours didn’t seem to have any milk or anything added to it, so maybe you just need a little cream or something.” Shuichi considers what flavors Gonta might like best, but he doesn’t actually know that much about Gonta’s tastes. Well, besides the fact that he apparently doesn’t like Oolong Tea on it’s own. Or, bafflingly enough, bananas. 

“Come on, I’ll make us some tea.”

-

Gonta is full of questions as he watches Shuichi prepare the tea. Whether that’s because he hadn’t paid attention to Kirumi while she did so or because Shuichi prepares it differently, he isn’t sure. But every step of the way brings Gonta’s never ending curiosity. It’s kind of nice, actually. Shuichi hasn’t spent a lot of time with Gonta, mostly because he’s a bit freaked out by bugs and doesn’t want to offend Gonta and possibly get murdered as a result, (though he’s sure it would be a complete accident, because there’s not a single malicious bone in his body.) but Shuichi had wanted company, and Gonta was surprisingly easy to talk to. 

Shuichi carefully pours them both a cup of tea, and then cautions Gonta to wait until it’s done steeping. “When it’s done, then we can add the milk.”

“Milk will make tea more palatable?” he asks, sounding out the word carefully. 

Shuichi nods. “It should.” Once the tea is steeped, Shuichi carefully adds a splash of milk into one of the cups and stirs, before sliding it across the counter to Gonta. “Okay, you can try it now. The milk should have cooled it down a bit, too.”

Hesitantly, Gonta raises the tea cup to his lips and takes the tiniest sip imaginable. Then, after a second, he licks his lips and furrows his brow before taking another, larger drink. Beaming, he sets the mug down. “Shuichi, it taste so good!”

Shuichi chuckles good naturedly as he takes a drink of his own tea. It’s light and floral, and maybe it’s not the exquisite blend he’s come to know from Kirumi’s careful work, but it’s still delicious, and it makes his heart pang to be back with his aunt and uncle, sipping tea and reading through old case files. “I’m glad you like it. Shall we go sit in the dining room?”

Gonta follows Shuichi back to the dining room and they retake their seats side by side. The room is dark- lit only by the light Shuichi had left on in the kitchen. It’s nice, sitting in silence with Gonta as they sip their tea and reflect on their thoughts. It’s easier for Shuichi’s mind to stay on a more positive track when there’s someone else there, at any rate. Gonta seems to be handling their imprisonment well enough, it seems. Beyond everyone’s initial panic, things have been pretty quiet. If Shuichi closes his eyes, he can even pretend that he’s somewhere else, somewhere without animatronic bears that want high school students to murder each other. 

“Shuichi?”

Shuichi blinks his eyes back open and turns to face Gonta. It seems he’s finished his tea and his eyes are drooping just the slightest. “Oh, Gonta think Shuichi fell asleep.”

Shuichi smiles and shakes his head. “No, I’m still awake. Are you ready to go to sleep, though? It is a bit late.” 

“Yes, Gonta is finished with his tea. Gonta just want to thank Shuichi! It very kind of you to help Gonta be more gentlemanly.” Gonta says as he rises from his seat. Standing at his full 6’6” over Shuichi, Shuichi can see how others could easily fear Gonta. It makes something twist inside Shuichi, to know that there are people out there that are too afraid of Gonta to give him a second of their time, to see what a great person he really is. Shuichi thinks Gonta may be too pure for words. 

“Of course, Gonta. I’m glad I could help.” Despite the lack of sleep, Shuichi isn’t really tired. Still, he stands too, and takes both of their cups. “I’ll just rinse these out, and then we can walk back to the dorms together, if you’d like?”

Gonta nods enthusiastically. “Yes, Gonta would like that!”

-

Standing just outside Gonta’s room, he turns to Shuichi again. “Gonta just want to thank Shuichi again. Gonta have a lot to learn still about being true gentleman.”

It’s not exactly the take away from this experience that Shuichi would expect Gonta to have, but he nods regardless. “It’s no trouble.”

“Shuichi spend more time with Gonta, teach Gonta how to be better gentleman? And in return, Gonta can teach Shuichi about bugs!” He seems delighted at the prospect, eyes lighting up even through the fatigue as he unlocks his dorm room door. It’s… kind of adorable, if Shuichi allows himself the thought. It’s not a particularly helpful one, though, so he does his best to push it down as he agrees, albeit hesitantly. 

“Good! Gonta see Shuichi tomorrow. Goodnight!” 

“Goodnight, Gonta.” And Gonta shuts the door softly. 

Shuichi is still much too awake to even pretend to go back to sleep, so he sighs heavily. Perhaps he can find something to read in the library until the morning announcement. Maybe he’ll even find a nice book on bugs so he can mentally prepare himself for the coming torment. 

With that in mind, Shuichi spares one last fond look at Gonta’s closed door, and heads for the library.


End file.
